Day 8: July 1, 2024

Today we travelled from Brittany to the Loire Valley in the morning, just making a stop at a service station on the way for a comfort break and to get some snacks. We visited two castles this afternoon, with the first stop being the Château de Chenonceau, most famous for being the home of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II, but she was thrown out by Henri's wife Catherine de Medici on his death. This Château spans a small river and is richly decorated. There are two gardens, one created by Diane, and one by Catherine. The group spent two hours here, exploring the Château and the grounds. Then we drove on to Azay-le-Rideau, about 40 minutes away, where we visited a smaller castle, but this one is interesting because it was lived in until the 20th century, so has decoration from many different periods. After this we drove to our hotel in the nearby town of Tours (famous for being where St Martin lived and died during Roman times), checked in and then walked to our restaurant for dinner in a brasserie (where there was another Euro soccer match on the TV!). After dinner we had free time in the beautiful old town.